Born, Live, Love
by mychippedcups
Summary: AU. Gold is one of the richest businessmen on Wall Street, but when he tries to get out of his miserable marriage he ends up meeting Belle, a high society prostitute that dreams of a better life
1. Chapter 1

_So guys this is my brad new work that came up to my mind after watching an interview about the Mayflower Madam on TV. I will still updated 'Never Forget' so is going to be kind off a challenge for me to do two stories at the same time but I liked the plot for this story and I didn't want to waste it. But wtv x) let's go to the story shall we?_

The meeting went well. It needed to go well, at the end this was Walt Street, they couldn't play with money. A little mistake could lead them to misery. That is the reason why he was always so careful with all of his deals. Thanks to that carefulness, is business 'Spinner' made more 14% of money then the same month from last year and it was growing more and more every day. Just like his own fortune. Robert Gold was in this exact moment one of the richest persons in WS thanks to his own business. But behind all the money and fame, he held a life.

Born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, he was capable of making an all life out of nothing. He was never this rich. He had fought to ear all this money. The people who saw him grow up in that town never thought that little 'Bobby' would go anywhere in his life. He was always seen as a coward thanks to his dad reputation but since an early age, he always dreamed to prove that all the people who had judged him were wrong. Now he had a family and an endless amount of money. He had a spoiled wife, who never loved him, who didn't care about no one besides herself. The only reason why she was still married to him was because of the money. Milah was her name. And the only reason why he didn't dump her yet was because of their 14 year old boy, Baelfire. He didn't remember how they got the name, but he couldn't care less about that, because at the end it was a strong name. And the love he felt for his son couldn't be described in mere words. He couldn't imagine his life anymore without Bae. He was his only motivation right now and if his business was going well, he needs to thank to his son.

With the help of his cane he enters in his office in the last floor of the building. Through the window he could already see New York being covered by the night. People returning home in their cars, to go to their families or to their friends to enjoy the night. It was just a typical Friday night. While everybody was having fun he needed to go home and listen to his bloody annoying wife. Bae was out with his friends from school tonight and at home it was nothing that fancy waiting for him. And he had the perfect excuse to be off Milah today.

He picks up the phone and puts her number on it. And thank god when the phone starts the bip part she didn't pick it up. It went to the voicemail and Gold left a simple message there. The message that he couldn't go home tonight because he needed to stay in the office taking care of some papers. He used that excuse one hundred and million times just to get out of the 'Milah talk'.

He sits down in his chair and then puts his cane besides him. He looks forward and sees a simple picture of his little boy. He couldn't help but smile. When Bae was little he used to spend all of the time in his office next to him. He would play with some papers while Gold took care of the counts. He missed those days. The days were he wouldn't need to be alone all of his time.

While he was thinking about those times, someone enters in his office little a tornado. He looks up to see the person and another smile comes out of his mouth when he sees the same. Jefferson Hatter was right in front of him. Jefferson was Gold's right arm, best friend and one of the few persons he actually trusted. He was always there for him. He was there when he met Milah, he was there when they got married, he was there when Baelfire born, and so on. He had a little daughter, a few years younger than Bae, called Grace. His wife had died a few years after Grace born in a car accident and Jefferson refuses to be in another relationship since then.

"Bobby you look a little… rumpled." He says and then laughs while sitting in one of the chairs in front of the work desk. "Let me guess… you said to Milah you needed to stay here again till late."

Gold nods. "Better stay here and do nothing than go to my house and hear about another day at the shopping."

"Bae is not home tonight! You guys should do some angry sex or something like it." Jefferson says and then laughs again. Gold just looks at him with a neutral face not wanting to talk about that. "Oh come on… when was the last time you made some sexy sex? When you guys conceived Bae?"

"Probably." He just answers. Jefferson couldn't stop laughing. Was that funny? He tried but Milah refused him every single time with something like 'my head hurts a lot'.

"You should call 'Storybrookes'." He says and Gold looks at him with a weird face.

"Storybrookes? Really? What the bloody hell is that?"

Jefferson smiles. "Let's just says you could get some high quality sex out of it."

"You want me to call a prostitution service?! Are you bloody insane?" Gold almost screams.

"It's not like that. They are girls that just do sex with rich mans, and they are high quality 'sex women'. They went to university and know a bunch of languages, they are smart has hell; beautiful as hell and they are not like those street prostitutes… believe me they know how to pleasure a man. Besides, who runs this thing is Regina, Cora Mills daughter." Jefferson says and then Gold just laughs with a certain irony.

"Little Regina? Little Regina runs a high quality prostitution service?" He just asks and then Jefferson just nods. "Jeff I'm not going to call this Storybrookes thing."

"Come on Gold… A night doesn't hurt anyone. Besides your marriage can't get worse. Just think about it. Tonight you enjoy a good sex and tomorrow everything will be back to normal. Enjoy yourself for tonight." He says and then writes a number down in a paper. "You call them, Regina will pick up, don't ask for a girl to share a bed with, if you do that you will not get anything. Ask for a girl to talk to, say your type of girl, say the hotel and the room where you will be staying and then say an hour for the girl to be there. You will have a hell of a night believe me. Everytime I called them, they never let me down." Those were Jefferson's last words before he leaves the office.

Everything was a silence now. Gold's eyes were fixed on the paper and then he just thinks. Jefferson was right. His marriage with Milah couldn't get worse. The only thing keeping this marriage alive was Bae and his money. Maybe he should really end this thing. The time were he loved Milah was long gone. Since the moment when she betrayed him with that Killian guy, he never looked at her the same way.

He picks up the paper and slowly dials the number on his phone. When he is finished with that, he puts his phone on his ear and waits for Regina to answer. It didn't take long.

"Storybrookes what can I do for you tonight?" He hears her voice on the other side of the line.

"I… I want someone I could talk to." He says what Jefferson told him to say, following this way his rules.

"And before anything else, can I have a name?" She asks. He felt nervous now. What if she tells her mother and then her mother tells Milah? Oh gosh what the bloody hell was he doing?

"Robert… Gold." He slowly says.

"Gold?! Robert Gold from Spinner? What the hell are you doing? What happened to Milah?" She asks and then just laughs out loud.

"Milah is not the problem here. And I called you to ask for what this service is for. Now where were we?"

"Okay okay… what kind of girl would you like?"

Gold sighs. "Brown hair, beautiful eyes… and an accent you wouldn't soon forget." He didn't know what to ask. In his mind, he just made up some fantasy girl.

She laughs. "I have just the girl for you… At what time and where should I send her?"

He starts to think. He could easily use his room in Forest hotel where he was send sometimes when Milah didn't want him at the house. Those nights that she was so angry with him that had the stupid idea of quacking him out of his own house. Without him, she was nothing.

"Forest hotel, room 815 in one hour." He just says and then hangs up. Jefferson was right. One night couldn't hurt anyone. Tomorrow everything would be okay again.

-/-

"Friday's… How much I love Friday's!" She hears Ruby, her roommate saying. She was completely insane for all that she could tell. A tall and beautiful girl that every man asked for. Her long brown hair with red highlights was falling from her face, almost hiding her face and making impossible to see her wonderful pair of blue eyes.

"You love Fridays? Since when?" She just asks and then laughs out loud. Ruby runs to her and sits right next to the same. With a huge smile in her face she takes her book from her hands.

"Since ever. And you know why? Because at Friday's night, all those stupid pathetic rich man's go to their little wives and little kids and we get the night off to enjoy some good alcohol and so great music and party till is 5 in the morning." Ruby finishes and then laughs.

She wished she could think just like Ruby. That life was a party and they just needed to enjoy it, but the truth was far from that. Probably Ruby was in the service also for fun but she knew that Belle was just there for a simple reason… money. Not that she was broke! Nothing like that. It was just that her day job in the municipal library didn't help much with the payments at the end of the month. If she never got in the Storybrookes, at this time she could be living in the streets right now.

Belle French was not the kind of girl most mans of the service would expect. She wasn't hot, or fun, or anything man like. She was just the book worm with a pretty face. It was like that her all life. Back in Australia, she couldn't even talk to boys like a normal girl; she was too shy for that. Everytime a boy would try to kiss her; she would just refuse them with a punch on their faces. But that was in Australia.

When she and her father moved to the States everything changed. The flower shop in Manhattan that her father owned wasn't making any money and the university where Belle studied was too expensive for both of them survive. It was then when she finished her degree that she saw a advising in the newspaper for Storybrookes.

In the first few months, she was ashamed of working there at night. Everytime she was called to service and she looked at the men's eyes, all she could see was their wish for sex. Nothing more. Just like that, her first time hurt… a lot. She remembers that day like it was yesterday and the tears she shared along with that. When she got home after the 'service' she cried for two days just thinking about how big mistake this was. But things got easier with time. Now it didn't hurt, but it didn't pleasure her either. The only ones being pleasured here were the men. But lucky for her, she was rarely called to go to some hotel and pleasure some business man. When they asked for the girl, they never asked for a girl like her. For what it looked like, she was too sweet for them. In the last few months she was only called to go be with just one man. Gaston Rose.

Every single time he called to the service, he asked for her, like he had some kind of obsession with her or something like it. He wasn't married, he hadn't any kids… he was just a bloody obsessed man. And Belle hated him with every single bone in her body. She couldn't take any other call from Regina saying to her that she needed to go be with Gaston. She was more than done with that man. But that didn't matter right now. Or at least that was what Belle though.

Her phone was ringing again. The night when both of her and Ruby though that no one would want the service, there was a call. For a few moments she hoped that it wasn't Regina calling. She was begging God that it wasn't Regina calling so she could be with Gaston. But when she picks up the phone and looks at the screen just sees her name in it.

She couldn't reject Regina. She needed to answer. So that was she did. Slowly she answers the phone and then waits for Regina to tell her what the bloody hell she was doing tonight. And yes, she had a service tonight. But thank god, it wasn't with Gaston Rose. Tonight she was going to be with some other man.

-/-

Every moment that passed he was thinking more and more about what the bloody hell he was doing. Right now he was just sitting there, in the edge of the bed from the hotel, waiting for that girl to come. Probably tonight he was going to get what he had been asking to Milah for fourteen years now. A good night of pleasure… with some bloody girl he didn't know.

That though was gone forever in the minute that he hears a knowing coming from the door. It was her. It needed to be her.

He gets up and slowly goes to the door, and when he opens the same, he could swear that there was an image of paradise in front of him. The girl wasn't tall like he though most part of the girls from the service were, and her skin was in a white tone. She had long brown curly hair but it wasn't the brown hair like Milah had. It was a chocolate brown that made contrast with her own skin. But that wasn't the best part. The best part was her eyes. Her beautiful, wonderful pair of ocean blue eyes. For a few moments he thought he could be lost in them forever. He had seen many people with blue eyes in his life, but there was something about this girl that made everything else different.

He steps back so the girl could enter in the room and then he closes the door. He didn't know why but for some weird reason the girl seemed nervous about all of this. Probably she was new in the service. She looked young so, probably it was that.

She turns again to him and then smiles. Why was she smiling? Was normal for them to smile? Or that was just a fake smile? Because he remembers that in movies, prostitutes were just there to have sex and didn't smile… ever.

She takes a few steps towards him and then stops in a position that both of their chests were already pressed together.

"And… may I know your name?" She just asks and then Gold laughs.

"Gold… you may call me Gold."

She laughs. "Do you have a first name, ?" His name in her mouth sounded like a sexual word. For moments he could hear her accent all day long without getting sick of it.

"I do have a first name… but it's not of your concerned."

"Okay, as you wish. Now, Mr. Gold, shall we start?" She asks and he just nods slowly.

She turns around and, very carefully, he starts to take of her long jacket while her skin starts to show up more and more. Beneath the jacket she was wearing nothing but her lingerie. It was in that moment that he realizes that she is really a piece of heaven. She wasn't completely skinny like many women, or wasn't she a complete fat person. She had the body that any women should have. Not to skin, not to fat… a body were a women could show up her curves and make any man go crazy for her.

When he is finished with that, she turns around and starts to guide him towards the bed, while she takes of the jacket of his suit and then his tie. He sits down on the edge of the bed again and then she just sits on the top of him. And it was when he closes his eyes that he feels her lips against his. It was a soft kiss, but it wasn't going to be soft forever. He kisses her back and that was when things started to get hotter. Now he was kissing her life his life depended on it.

She takes off his shirt button by button and when she is finished with that, the next thing to come off his body were his shoes and socks. She gets up again and goes to the chair right in front of him while taking off her high heels and her long socks. He had seen people taking off socks in every way possible, but the way she took then off was so sensual that he couldn't even take his eyes of it.

They both lay down in the bed and she just takes care of taking his pants out of the way. In this moment, he could already tell that he couldn't wait anymore for the act. Last time he did this was when Bae was conceived in Milah womb. Since that moment that he had been dreaming about the next time that he would touch a woman's body again. And tonight was the night.

He slowly takes her bra and when he is finished with that, he puts himself on the top of her and starts to make a line of kisses on her chest while he passes his hands of her delicate breasts.

He could feel her hands in his back going down and down till they reach his boxers and takes then off. The same thing happened with her panties, but this time, it was his move to do it, and just like the bra, it was something slowly.

A few moments later, both of them were already completely naked and there was no turning back when his mouth meets hers again and his hips start to move back and forward on hers.

They were more than pressed together, and at the beginning it started slowly, then got faster and faster. She was already making sounds, but for some reason, they looked like they were true and not fake like he hoped. Her hands were on his back, not letting him go anywhere.

His lips move from her mouth to her neck and he starts sucking it so much that it would probably left a hickey. It was in that moment when he was finished with that, that his hips were moving as fasters as they could and it didn't took long for both of them to hit the climax. Or at least one of them. He couldn't still tell if she was faking it or not.

A few moments later they were both lying on either side of the bed, with the sheets covering their bodies.

He didn't know what the hell he just did. Was he betraying Milah this way? Well he wasn't really betraying her… he was just looking for what she didn't give to him in other women. But still… it felt wrong.

He looks to the girl again and starts thinking how could a girl so beautiful and wonderful like her be in a service like this. She didn't seem to be the kind of girl that would need to give her body for money. She seemed smarter than that. She didn't deserve this. That was what he thought.

She looks right into his eyes and then smiles. "What are you thinking?"

He laughs. "I'm thinking about how can a girl so beautiful like you don't have a name."

"I have a name!" She says and then laughs.

"Then what is it?" He asks again.

"Belle… my name is Belle."


	2. Chapter 2

_First of all, I want to thank y'all for the reviews of the first chapter and thanks to that I'm more exited to write more and more and… well you got the idea (for those of you who couldn't read because of the typos, the first chapter is brad new [not the plot, but the grammar]). Second of all, I want to thank The_Lark (from AO3) for being my new beta reader ;3_

_Btw, between the 6__th__ and the 13__th__ of October I will be in Cyprus so during that time there will be no new chapters:3 _

_Hope you enjoy_

"Ruby, where is the present?" Belle yelled at her roommate, searching high and low for the package. They were going to be late, and Mary Margaret was going to be mad at them, and then they were going to be in big trouble. Oh, why was she getting so stressed about this? It was just a party, not the end of the world. Well, if Belle didn't show up, it might be the end of Emma's world. To her, Belle was the sister that she'd never had, and to Belle, Emma was the daughter she wished she had.

That was why she was so worried about the gift. This was Emma's fourteen birthday, and Belle had gotten her something she would love. Or so she hoped.

She enjoyed days like this, when she could go to the Nolans' place and laugh and smile with them. It wasn't only young Emma she enjoyed. She also loved spending some time with Mary and James.

Her friendship Nolans had begun with Mary Margaret, back when Belle was still at college. After several years, Mary had gone back to school to earn her degree, and she and Belle had had bunch of classes together. By they had graduated, little Emma was already ten years old and starting to see Belle as her big sister. However, Mary, unlike Belle, didn't have to count every penny at the end of each month.

James ran a business called CharmingCorp on Wall Street, which provided a good living for him, her and little Emma. At least one of them was doing okay, Belle thought sadly. To top it all off, James was pretty charming himself. And dear little Emma had inherited her father's guts.

But right now she couldn't waste time thinking about her friendship with the Nolans. She needed to find Emma's gift quickly. She didn't want to be late, and not just because it would upset Emma. She wanted to have some quality time with the Nolans before all of James' "friends" arrived. "Come on, Ruby. I don't have all day. You know that, right?" Belle shouted.

Ruby walked in, holding a package and laughing her head off. "Is this what you're looking for?"

"Oh God, yes!" Belle grabbed it and began searching for her purse.

Finally, she was ready to go and have some fun for a change. No job, no chores, no worries-just fun. Or at least, that was what she hoped for. But for tonight, that didn't matter. Tonight was going to be different, and that was all that mattered.

…

"Belle!" a voice cried out the moment her foot hit the threshold. She didn't even have time to get all the way inside, before a young blond girl was jumping into her arms and hugging her. Belle couldn't help but smile. Just looking at the girl's smiling face made it impossible to stay unhappy. It was just one of those little miracles in life that she was thankful for.

"Hey there, little swan. I heard that someone in this house was having a birthday, so I thought, why not stop by? Who is it? Is it your brother?" She teased.

The little girl laughed. "I don't have a brother. It's my birthday, you silly!" Belle loved the sound of the girl's laugh. It was the laugh of a child who wanted for nothing and had a great life ahead of her. She didn't remember whether she'd been such a happy child when she was Emma's age. Knowing herself, she probably she had been, in her own way.

"I believe this belongs to you, milady," Belle said solemnly, showing the slender, paper-wrapped package to the girl.

Emma grabbed. "I'm not a lady. I'm a knight. I'll have you know, I slay dragons all the time." She tore into the package, revealing two wooden swords She grinned from ear to ear. Emma's sweet face was always such a pleasure to watch. Behind her, Mary Margaret chuckled, hugging Belle like there was no tomorrow.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! Now I can slay some dragons for real!" Emma ran off to the living room to show the gift off to her father.

Mary and Belle headed for the kitchen, to finish baking for the birthday dinner. At least Belle could help her friend with _something_. Baking was something that Belle had loved ever since she was a kid. She still had fond memories of baking cupcakes with her mother, back in Australia, a lifetime ago. It had always been the highlight of the day for both of them.

As Belle and Mary Margaret worked, neither of them spoke. That wasn't like Mary at all. Something really seemed to be worrying her. Belle wondered if maybe something was wrong between her and James. "What's wrong?" Belle finally came out and asked, turning to her friend.

Mary's green eyes meet her blue ones and she laughed softly. "Nothing's wrong." She just says. "I'm just a little worried about Emma. You know, she's growing up so fast, but she doesn't seem to realize it. Fourteen years old and still thinks she's a knight in some fairytale."

Belle laughs. "Look who's talking! Miss Snow White herself-the woman who drags her family to Disney World at least once every year.

Mary Margaret was insulted. "Hey, Disney World's fun! I like it there, and so does James, and so does Emma!

"Emma hates Disney World because you make her go meet the princesses, when she'd probably prefer to go steal things with Flynn Rider." Belle informed her as she scrubbed her hands.

Mary sighed. "What about you? How's life treating you?"

Belle didn't know how to answer that. Should she confess how her bills were growing with each passing day, how thoughts of money were robbing her of her sanity and her ability to sleep at night? Or should she lie to keep her friend from worrying; pretend that her life was a fairytale? "It's… okay," was the best she could come up with.

Mary didn't look convinced. "Okay, you say? Then why is there makeup all over your neck?"

Belle froze, glancing down at her neck, at one of the hickeys that she covered up this morning. This was just one of the billion reasons that she hated her night job. People always seemed to know that she had been with someone, whether it was for sex or not.

"Was it Gaston again?" Mary persisted. Belle shook her head. Thankfully, it hadn't been Gaston. She was so damn tired of him, always thinking that he could order her around like a slave. "Well, thank goodness for that, at least."

She was right. At least it wasn't Gaston, but the other man had been just as disconcerting, in his own way. His memory was still painted freshly in her mind, like it belonged there, like it meant something. But that was ridiculous. Just like all the others, he probably had a family, a lovely wife and a house full of beautiful children. She was just seeing what she wanted to see. Belle was so tired of being alone. She didn't want to be sleeping with strangers forever. She wanted a family. A loving husband and precious kids of her own. But unfortunately, it didn't look like that would be happening any time soon.

The silence was broken once again, by the ringing of a bell. While Mary Margaret went to open the door, Belle remained in the kitchen, thinking about things that weren't real.

She could already hear Emma screaming some garbled noise that might have been a boy's name. She seemed so excited. But then, Emma was always excited about something.

"Auntie Belle! Come quick, I want you to meet my friend!" Emma bounded into the kitchen, grabbing Belle by both wrists and dragging her out of the kitchen. Belle laughed, supposing she should be grateful. She didn't have many friends; it was sweet of the little girl, trying to help her meet people.

But as she emerged into the hallway, her laughter died away. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

-/-

Gold regretted that they hadn't been able to make it to Emma's last few birthday parties, but better late than never. Bae was enjoying himself like there was no tomorrow, and that was enough to make his father happy. The smile on his son's face as they approached the Nolans' front door was absolutely priceless. He didn't know whether they were just friends or something more, but he could tell that Bae really liked Emma. A lot. Maybe it was because she wasn't like most teenaged girls—the ones who wanted to be famous, obsessed over makeup and clothes, and thought that being fourteen meant that they could do whatever they wanted. Emma was a classic tomboy. She wanted to slay dragons and shoot bad guys. She didn't want to be rescued; she wanted do the rescuing. Emma was different. Different…That made him think of the girl from last night.

She may have been a prostitute, but there was something different about her. She just didn't seem to belong in such a profession, and he got the feeling that she didn't want to. There had to be some reason she'd gotten involved in all of this, and he felt strangely ashamed that he didn't know it. A girl so sweet, so beautiful, so unique… How could she not be married? How could she not have a life of her own? Well, he supposed it didn't matter at the moment. Right now, he needed to focus on having fun with Bae, and Milah, later on.

He didn't even know why his bitch of a wife was coming in the first place. She hated kids' parties. The only parties she was interested in were the kind where she could gossip about the latest fashion news. Sometimes she dragged him along, and it was all he could do to keep from going insane. But he didn't want to think about that. For now, at least, it was just him and Bae.

They rang the bell, waiting. Mary Margaret appeared in the doorway with a smile on her face. That woman's mood seemed to be permanently set to 'happy', and it tended to be contagious. Young Emma wasn't far behind, her eyes fixed on Bae.

"Hi, everyone! Come on in, we were just finishing the cupcakes," Mary Margaret greeted, waving them inside.

"Bae, Bae, you've got to meet my aunt! She's so cool! Guess what she gave me for my birthday? Two swords!" Emma was practically bouncing with delight.

"Two swords? I wish my mom would do that. Last birthday I had, she got me a _watch_. I hated it." Bae crinkled his nose. Gold couldn't help but laugh bitterly. The woman didn't even know what her own son liked. Some mother.

"Wait a second, I'll go get her," Emma continued. "Auntie Belle!" she hollered.

Gold froze. Belle. He knew that name. But it couldn't be her. Why would someone from a well-to-do family like this be selling her body? It was completely impossible. Surely there was more than one Belle in the world.

But he heard a very familiar laugh, and he knew he'd been right the first time. Sure enough, the girl Emma was dragging into the hall was the angel he'd met yesterday. The girl he almost couldn't believe had existed. But she did, and the proof was standing right in front of him.

He remembered every single touch, every single kiss they had shared. They were permanently burned into his mind. He couldn't forget, and didn't want to. For that one night, he'd felt as if Belle was his wife. He'd _wished_ Belle was his wife. Even though he didn't know the girl very well, there was something so unusual about her, something that drew him to her like a force of nature.

"Auntie Belle, this is my best friend, Baelfire, and that's his father, Robert. Guys this is my Belle! She's all mine, you can't have her." Emma squeezed Belle possessively. Belle herself laughed, blushing like hell. God, even her laugh drove him crazy.

She looked up, and their eyes met again. That was when he knew it was going to be a long night.

-/-

"It's him!" Belle whispered, pushing Mary toward the kitchen a few hours later.

"Him? Him who?" Mary seemed honestly confused. Belle pointed to her neck. Mary was stunned. "Gold?! Oh my goodness… When?"

"Last night! Oh God, this is so wrong. Mary, this is really, _really_ wrong. This wasn't supposed to happen. I'm not Ruby! I can't hang around guys I slept with for money like nothing happened between us!"

She was so stressed she felt like she might explode at any minute. She needed to calm down, but she couldn't. She had been so naïve. Filthy money, oh how she hated it! That was what had gotten her into this bloody mess! But it was too late to do anything about that now. Ugh, what was next? Was Gaston Rose going to suddenly show up, just to make her humiliation complete?

"Belle," Mary soothed, "you just need to calm…"

She was interrupted by James bursting into the room, phone in hand. "Sorry to interrupt you, ladies. Mary, I just wanted to tell you that the Mills and Roses will be here any minute."

What was she now, a seer? Belle wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. Great, just perfect. Her boss and the bloody bastard whom she longed to kill most of the time.

"Belle, are you alright?" he asked tentatively.

"Am I alright?! Am I alright?! You just said that my boss and the guy who thinks he owns me will be here any minute! So, no, I'm not alright, you bloody bastard!" She was becoming hysterical. Had she really just called James, Mr. Prince Charming himself, a bastard? What was wrong with her? God, he was her friend!

"Belle… you just need to calm down," Mary said gently.

Tears welled up in Belle's eyes. Mary was right, she was overreacting. She was making a mess out of everything, but she wouldn't help it. There were a few things in life that she just couldn't handle, and this was one of them. "Don't you fucking tell me what to do! You think it's easy for me to look at you people, with all your money and pride, and keep my mouth shut day after day? No, I can't! It's my job to have _sex _with people like you! Do you think I enjoy it? I hate it! Do you have any idea how much I hate it?!" she screamed angrily. "I'm a goddamn whore! I'm not like you; I don't get to live in a fairytale! I'm living in hell! I hardly feel human anymore! I'm about to lose everything that matters to me and then I will be fucking alone!"

She didn't know where she was finding the nerve to say all this. James and Mary didn't deserve her anger. They were like a second family. They did everything they could to help her. They were the only people in the world Belle could truly call her friends. She was just stressed to the breaking point, unable to hold back the tears. Yelling hadn't done any good, though, and now she had something new to be upset about—the looks on her friends' faces. Mary was crying—actually crying! God, she hadn't seen little miss Snow White cry since her father had died several years ago. "I'm… I'm sorry guys," she apologized weakly. "I'm okay, really. I think I just need some air." She bolted from the room before either of them could protest. She wanted to hug them with all her strength and beg their forgiveness for her outburst, but at the same time, she had needed to get all that pent-up rage out of her system. She couldn't help it. It was all true. She was nothing but a goddamn whore.

The balcony was quiet. She was the only person out there, which was a relief. Just her and the cool night air and… her. Coming here tonight had been a bad idea. Everything had been perfect at first; baking cupcakes and laughing with Emma. But then Gold had entered the scene and her nerves had taken over. What the bloody hell was wrong with her?! She never screamed like that, especially at Mary and James.

Oh God, what if Emma had overheard her little rant? What if she found out about her Auntie Belle's night job? If Emma found out, what would the little girl think of her? Emma looked up to her like some kind of idol. The little swan was always telling her how brave she was and what a great warrior she would make. Belle was Emma's role model, little as she deserved to be.

"Trouble in paradise?" a Scottish-accented voice piped up behind her. She didn't even bother to turn around. It was obvious who it was, though why he was here was still a mystery to be solved.

"What the hell do you want?" she snapped.

He sighed. "I overheard your talk with the Nolans, and decided to check up on you."

"You don't even know me. What do you care?"

He shuffled slowly toward her, coming to stand at her side, his eyes fixed intently on her body. "Well, maybe because you were wrong." She looked up at him with wet, red eyes, and he smiled sadly. "No life is a fairytale, Belle. Our lives can suck as badly as anyone's. Maybe we don't have money problems, but we have our share of personal problems…and then some. Death, divorce, separation. But hopefully, there are enough good things in life to cancel out the bad ones."

"Unless you're me," she whispered.

He laughed darkly. "You think you've got it bad, just because you're making sacrifices for money? Well, that is an interesting theory. Regardless, I can tell you one thing, Belle. From what I've seen today, you have a lot of people who love you. Especially Emma. The girl looks up to you like a mother. You don't see that every day. You seem great with kids. I think my Bae is falling in love with you." He paused, taking a deep breath. "You're right, I don't really know you. But I would love to, if you'd let me." She stared blankly into his eyes. "You're not a whore—not in my eyes. All I see is a sweet, beautiful young woman with a heart of gold. I don't think I'm the only one who sees it, either. The real question is, why don't you see it?"

She didn't know what to say to that. Yesterday she'd been screwing him for money, and today he was giving her a pep talk? Everything about this situation was so wrong. Everything about this _man_ was so wrong. This man she couldn't stop thinking of…

They stood there for a long moment without saying a single word. Part of her wanted to talk, to open up to this stranger. At the same time, though, all the stress seemed to have frozen her heart. She wasn't going to do it. Not now… probably not ever. Logically, she knew that this wasn't going to follow the formula in her books: boy meets girl, boy likes girl, girl likes boy, they fall in love. This, sadly, was real life, and real life didn't work that way. Gold may have said some beautiful things to her, but that didn't make him any different from the other men she'd been with. He, too, wanted power over her—he was just using a different tactic. She had no reason to trust him.

She gave him one last look and went back inside. It was almost dinner time and she still needed to frost the cupcakes. Besides, she owed Mary a hug and an apology.

Everything seemed a bit easier, now that she'd gotten her feelings off her chest. Gold was making himself scarce for now. She tried to relax and focus on the Nolans' party, or dinner, or reunion, or whatever else James was calling it today. She crept back into the empty dining room, only to realize, with a horrible sinking feeling, that it wasn't empty anymore.

A strong male voice rang out behind her. "Hello Belle."


End file.
